Tuesday,

18th of November – The race car pictured in yesterday’s post honoring Soichiro Honda is a Honda F11, the first ever Formula 1 racer developed by the Honda Motor Company. It was never entered in a Grand Prix as it was built as a test rig for future F1 cars. The pic above shows Ayrton Senna and Soichiro Honda after the Brazilian’s third World Championship win powered by Honda and fittingly yesterday, the day that would have been Soichiro’s 102nd birthday, the epic combination Honda and Senna commemorated a revival. The nephew of the late Brazilian, Bruno Senna, had his first taste of a contemporary Formula 1 race car at the Circuit de Catalunya at the wheel of a Honda RA108.

18/11/1917, Robert Edward Ansell is born in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, UK.

Bob Ansell was from the Ansell beer family, the Birmingham brewers, a substantial family business. He had bought ERA R9B from Scribbans’ in 1938 and during the war he purchased Tongue’s Maserati 4CL as well. His cousin Geoffrey drove the ERA during 1947 and purchased it in 1948. Bob and Geoffrey were rich and very enthusiastic and raced as a hobby, but racing cost the Ansells dear in financial terms. Both Bob and Geoffrey retired from racing at the end of 1949.

Born: 18th of November 1917 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, UK;
Died: 13th of January 2004 in Coln St. Aldwyns, Gloucestershire, UK, aged 86.

18/11/2005, Gérard Crombac dies.

Gérard Crombac, nicknamed Jabby, co-founder of French magazine Auto-Sport, was one of the most famous and, with a record 578 GPs, longest serving F1 journalists. He lived inmidst the F1 scene when a journalist still could be a close friend of team bosses like Colin Chapman and work for his buddy’s closest oponent, as it was the case with Ken Tyrrell. Or acting as the manager to the late Jo Schlesser while being a very close friend to Jim Clark, with whom he shared a flat in Paris.

Born: 7th of March 1929 in Zürich, Switzerland;
Died: 18th of November 2005 in Paris, France, aged 76.

18/11/1932, Nasif Moises Estefano is born in Concepción, Argentina.

Estefano started racing in the Turismo Carretera. He failed to qualify for the 1962 Italian Grand Prix in a deTomaso. Returned to Argentina and clinched the Mecánica Nacional Fórmula Uno title (1963-64), won the Argentine Turismo (1965) and F3 Championships (1965-1966). He went back to Turismo Carretera endurance events but was killed in the Gran Prémio de la Reconstrucción Nacional, becoming the posthumous champion of the category.

Born: 18th of November 1932 in Concepción, Argentina;
Died: 21st of October 1973 in Aimogasta, Argentina, aged 41.